Post by ALY on May 28, 2008 19:11:10 GMT -5
PERPETUATE THE MYTH[/color][/font]
"Miriam, please. Please. You can’t leave me like this!”
“Actually, I can, Jakob. And I am. Don’t follow me. Don’t look for me. Just stay away, okay?”
Rain drizzled down like buckets were being poured from some celestial hand, coating the fragile frame of the dark-haired young woman with an ethereal mist. A forlorn shadow stared at the ghostly figure, unmoving, a living paragon of a statue. But this figure, slender and tall, was not cast in the same silvery light as the retreating female’s was. No, this figure was outlined only by the fact that it existed, almost like it was a shadow: there, but with no true substance, no actual mass. The figure stared for a moment longer, the invisible eyes fixed on something no one else could see. Then, with no fanfare, no shimmering or glittering, or even fading, it was gone as though it had never been. Just gone. And the passersby (those who were unfortunate enough to be caught in this mysterious downpour) stared at that blank space, wondering for a moment if they’d even see the creature. But after a moment, the bystanders moved on, hurrying out of the rain and on with their lives.
SUN SHINES ON THE BAY[/color][/font]
San Francisco, 2015. There is a simple kind of beauty in the bustle of the City by the Bay. In San Francisco, everyone has a chance, a place, a dream. Even the rats are part of it, there for the young actors who are so fortunate as to be able to say that they worked their way up from a rat-infested apartment to a penthouse in Golden Gate Park. The cable-cars still rattle their way down the streets, prompting curses from the speeding cabbies and the awed murmurs of the tourists who’ve come to experience the flavorful colors of the old city.
But beneath the solid white marble of the Presidio, beyond the beauty of the serene duck ponds and the quiet ringing of the hooves of the police horses, there lies something a little more like death and a little less like the golden creature we’d like to believe lives within the best of us. Beneath the shouts and curses of the immigrant fishermen, lurking in the night, lies a creature that is not one creature, but many. Hundreds of souls (or those with a lack thereof) make their home in the city, and they aren’t leaving. Particularly not when they have the chance to grab hold of so much power…
Meet Jakob Raleigh. Politician, artist, mayor of San Francisco… vampire. But there’s no denying that if one were to choose a vampire to be on their side, they’d pick Jakob. At least, that’s what Miriam Le Marc did. A pretty young activist, she saw the potential in the thirty-year-old (or so he seemed) mayor. She went to him with her concerns about the environment, with plans on making the city a better place. But little did she know, she had gone to him with much more than that. Stricken by her vitality, her passion for life, her… warmth, Jakob hired her on the spot as an advisor on environmental issues.
The next weeks were spent in blissful oblivion to the oddities that were her boss. Miriam had never enjoyed anyone’s company more—Jakob was smart, gentle, kind, funny….and he cared. It was that which prompted Miriam to accept his offer of dinner at an expensive restaurant.
PRETTY GIRLS AND PRETTY BOYS[/color][/font]
“God, Jakob, I can’t—“
“You can.”
He collapsed on top of her, perspiration gluing their bodies together. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, her breathing rough and ragged, a fast pulse beating in the vein on her neck. Jakob tore his gaze away, his own breathing erratic as he tried not to notice. But he could feel her heartbeat, feel the soft flutter of the pulse in her wrists at the back of his neck.
“Miriam, I have to tell you something.”
“What? Oh, God, you’re not married or a father or…”
“No. No, I’m not. I’m… This is going to sound crazy. Please don’t think I’m crazy. I swear to you, I’m not. I’m a… Jesus, I’m a vampire, okay?”
Silence.
“That’s ridiculous. Do you think I’m stupid, Jakob? God, maybe I should just leave. This is a joke, isn’t it?”
“No! I—no. It isn’t a joke. I’m—well, I’m six hundred, twenty-two years old, to be exact. I’m not from around here, either. I’m from—“
“Shut up, Jakob. Just shut up. I can see why this is funny to you. Just mess with the tree-hugger, right? Screw her and make her look ridiculous?”
“Stop! Miriam, stop. Please. I’ll—Look behind you. At the mirror. Whose reflection do you see?”
“Part of mine, but that doesn’t—Oh, God. Jakob, where the f**k are you? You’re not in the mirror. f**k, f**k, f**k. Get off. Get OFF!”
“No! Miriam, I won’t hurt you. I swear. I won’t hurt you. I don’t have to—to kill someone to feed. I’m not a monster. I’m not. I won’t touch you if you don’t want me to. But….You need to know this. I’m not the only one. There’re a lot of us. Not us, really. I say us because I mean vampires. There’s a lot. In San Francisco, especially. It’s quiet here, calm, and the people are always moving. Hardly anyone stays in place long enough to remember that they were bitten, and they definitely don’t stay long enough to get bitten twice.”
“Why… why are you telling me this? I don’t have anything to do with it. I don’t want anything to do with it!”
“You do. With your environmental reforms, you’re in danger. You’re ruining the vampires’ habitats, making them too secluded. Without easy access to people, they can’t survive. You—you’re in danger.”
“So you slept with me to ‘protect me from vampires’? Is that it, Jakob? Well, gee, thanks for the sentiment, but I’d rather be in danger. Have a nice f**k**g life, you jerk.”
“Please don’t leave, Miriam. Please. I… I love you. I mean, I know it’s kind of soon for that, but…I see you every day. I enjoy your company, the way you talk, the debating, even the arguing. I can’t think of anything else to express the way I feel when I’m around you. I love you.”
“You—what?”
“I love you.”
“Well, I… I don’t know what to say here, Jakob. You’re trying to convince me that you’re a vampire, and then you tell me you love me? I don’t really understand, here…”
“Well, I do love you. And I am. And I know you feel the same way.”
‘Well, I do…..”
“Then it’ll all be fine, Miriam. It’ll all work out.”
HERE COMES THE THUNDER[/color][/font]
And it did, for a while. The two lived in blissful ignorance of the problems around them. But things were changing. The vampires were exceedingly unhappy with Miriam’s changes. She was isolating the parks where they hunted at night, making them less susceptible to human interference—and therefore making them all but completely useless for a vampire to hunt down his prey. So the bloodsuckers did something no one expected them to do: they enlisted the help of ancient enemies—werewolves. It was an uneasy alliance, to say the least, but they were angry. One of their own had taken power over the city, and hadn’t even bothered to use it to the advantage of his own kind. The indignity of this was complete—and the vampires deigned to get rid of Jakob Raleigh… and his pretty young fiancé, Miriam Le Marc.
Miriam Le Marc-
It has come to our attention that you are engaged to be married to Jakob Raleigh. We’d congratulate you, but it would be dishonest. We cannot allow such a thing to happen, so we offer you this warning: stay away from Mr. Raleigh. If you don’t, we know how to rid the world of both of you, and I’m sure you love him too much to condemn him to death.
Yours truly,
Pierre Montblanc
Pierre Montblanc
Covenmaster
The vampires had made their move, and already they had someone to head it: Half vampire, half werewolf, Pierre Montblanc was a handsome French man who would do what Jakob hadn't: put the city under lycan and vampire rule. And there would be no doubts that he could. But some vampires, those like Jakob, who didn't kill to eat and who didn’t want things to change, were appalled. Vampires were already starting to gain power, to keep slaves in their quiet hideouts where the bloodletters couldn't get away. What would they try next? They and the werewolves who hated this new alliance fought Pierre's following. They gave themselves a name: The Proeliators, or the Proe—the fighters. They had their own name for Pierre’s group of bloodthirsty, power-hungry vampires and werewolves as well—The Cruentus, or the Crue—the Bloody.
Now the bloodletter humans and the Proe vampires and werewolves have teamed up to wreak havoc on the evil master plan that Pierre’s already putting in place. The elections are coming up—Jakob vs. Pierre? Who will win? And whose side will you take? Will you go with the flow, or fight back?
FIGHT B A C K[/color][/font]
AND NOW IT ALL DISINTEGRATES[/color][/font][/size]
